Bass on both lakes and rivers will push bait—both shad and crawfish—around, across and up on to sand, making sandbars and flats great areas to look for bass.

I like to look for sand on lakes in two areas: inside weed lines and flats. On lakes that have a very hard inside weed line, the area extending from the weed line to shore is often made up of sand. This obviously depends on the type of lake and its bottom composition, but this scenario usually plays out. I look for the presence of baitfish or bluegills along inside weed line areas; that’s what bass feeding on and chase along the sand.

On lakes that have a lot of rock, I look for sand flats adjacent to rock points or humps. Bass will move between a rocky point and hump and actively feed on the intervening sand flat. Some lakes that have a lot of rock also have a lot of sand flats.

The two biggest things to consider when fishing these sand flats are 1) the depth of water and 2) the wind speed and direction where you are getting bites. By paying attention to these details, you’ll know when a specific sand flat is likely to have actively feeding bass.

Swim jigs are among my favorite ways to fish a sand flat. It does a great job of imitating the baitfish that bass push up onto the sand to feed on; or, if you slow-roll your swim jig along the bottom, it resembles the crawfish the bass are eating. I typically fish a 1/4-ounce All-Terrain Tackle Finesse Swim Jig with a small swimbait trailer, like a Yamamoto Bait’s Swimming 4-inch Senko, or Northland Fishing Tackle’s Eye-Candy Paddle Shad. Make long casts over the sand flat. While reeling it in, give it a twitch with the rod tip every so often. This little erratic action mimics a fleeing baitfish and generates reaction strikes.

If the bass are holding tighter to the bottom, or if the water is deeper than 8 feet, I bump my jig up to a 3/8-ounce size and switch up to a double-tail grub or small craw as my trailer, to mimic crawfish scurrying along the bottom.

I typically fish a swim jig around or through vegetation, so I’ll use braided line. But when I’m fishing sand, it is open water, and likely cleaner water; so I switch my swim jig setup to 15-pound Seaguar TATSU Fluorocarbon, or their JDM R18 Mainline Fluorocarbon, in 14- or 16-pound test. Both lines are Double Structured Fluorocarbon (DSF), so they are very smooth casting, while offering exceptional knot and tensile strength.

Cast a wacky-rigged Senko to target bass holding on the inside edge of a weed line that has sand patches, or a consistent sand flat, between the weed line and shore. Either make pinpoint casts to the sand patches, or cast parallel with the weed/sand edge, and let the bait sit there. In either case, as bass move along the sand, they’ll find your wacky rig, pick it up and slowly move off with it.

If I need to get my soft plastic stickbait down to the bottom quicker, or if it is windy, I either add a nail weight into the end of the worm, or use a weighted hook, like the Northland Fishing Tackle Elite Series Weedless Wacky Head. I rig my soft plastic stickbaits on a Lazer TroKar Pro V Bend Finesse Hook (TK137, size 2); the gap of the hook gives me the ability to get a solid hookup, while still being small enough to not affect the action of the bait.

Being able to make a long cast, and seeing my line start to move when a bass picks up the bait, is a lot easier when using a high-visibility line. I spool up with 20-pound test Seaguar Flash Green Smackdown Braided line as my main line and connect it to a three- to four-foot, 10-pound-test Seaguar Gold Label Fluorocarbon leader. This setup has the strength and castability needed for my main line, while meeting the finesse and low-profile needs of the leader connected to my bait.

Regardless of the size of a river you are fishing in, you’ll likely be able to find and fish sandbars for bass. On large rivers like the Mississippi, sand is a common thing. Sand is pushed around by the natural current of the river, as well as the current from large tugboats that move up and down the river.

Since sand is common on rivers, I like to fish sand in congregation areas where bass to position and feed. The first places I look for sand are on islands—and specifically, either the upstream or downstream point.

How and when you fish either of these island points it is dictated by the current. If the current is strong, then I start making casts on the protected downstream point is. If the current isn’t strong, and the bass wanting the current to push more food into their faces, then the upstream point is a good place to start.

Like fishing sand flats on a lake, sand flats on a river system are likely to be located between other key fishing areas, such as points, the mouth of a slough, or on the downstream side of an island.

The difference between sand flats on a lake and a river is, on rivers, they move! Yes, sand flats move on a river system because the current will pick up that sand and move it. It can also change its composition, making it cleaner by adding or removing grass, or by adding or removing shells. These are specific things to look for when fishing sand flats on a river system. Every time you go out, you may need to relocate your sweet spot on a given sand flat.

Topwaters are among my favorite ways to fish sand on a river system for both largemouths and smallmouths. Topwaters not only allow you to mimic the baitfish that bass are pushing up on the sand to eat; they also allow you to cover a lot of water and identify potential sweet spots along a sand flat or point where a school of bass is grouped.

My go-to topwater is a walk-the-dog style plug like a Heddon Super Spook or Evergreen Shower Blow; or a Super Spook Jr. if the bass want a more compact presentation, based on the size of bait they are eating. With any of these baits, I make a cast upstream and slowly walk it across the surface of the water, working it back to me with the current and over the sand flat. This gives the bait a natural look, just as if a baitfish was caught in the current and washed over the sand.

At times, bass that are feeding on sand seemingly shut down and won’t chase topwater anymore. When this happens, dragging something along the bottom is a great way to put your bait where the bass are holding: likely just off the sand in slightly deeper water. Many anglers like to drag a Carolina-Rig in this situation, and I will do this. But I like to show the bass something different and drag a small football jig.

A small football jig dragged along the bottom looks like a crawfish; or if you hop it, it may catch the bass’s attention as something feeding on the baitfish that they are trying to it, resulting in the bass going after the football jig. I like to throw Northland Fishing Tackle’s Elite Series Finesse Football Head Jig with a Yamamoto Baits Covert Craw as the trailer. This compact football jig packs a powerful punch and will tempt even the most pressured or inactive bass into biting. And since the Covert Craw’s legs float, your jig will look like a real-life crawfish.

When you head out this summer, be on the lookout for sand; bass will be on it, just like pleasure boaters soaking up the sun nearby!